Government sets acquisition price of food wheat for State Reserve

The acquisition price of the food wheat for the State Reserve will constitute MDL 3000-3200 per tonne of food wheat, depending on the quality and gluten content. The Agency for Material Reserves, Public Acquisitions and Humanitarian Aid will acquire about 50-55 thousand tonnes of wheat for the State Reserve. The acquisition price was set on Thursday, July 5 by the national staff for the coordination of harvest of grain and legume crops of first group, and rape. According to Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Anatolie Gorodenco, out of 287.6 thousand hectares planted with autumn wheat, about 55% were harvested, obtaining a volume of 235.4 thousand tonnes. Gorodenco requested the decision-makers to accelerate the harvest and finish the works within 7 days. 56% or 270 thousand hectares of grain and legume were harvested by now. Out of 18.7 thousand hectares of maize, 16.7 thousand hectares or 89% were harvested, the global volume constituting 11.5 thousand tones. The autumn and spring barley was harvested from 44.8 thousand hectares or 92%, and respectively 24 thousand hectares or 33%, obtaining a volume of about 66 thousand and respectively 25 thousand tonnes. According to the experts, in the case of the first-group crops, the losses of the producers because of the low yields of wheat amount to MDL 1 bln. The experts forecast a harvest of 500 thousand tonnes this year. This volume will be by 150 thousand tonnes lower against the result of the last year and smaller than the annual demand of the country, fact which will unavoidably lead to imports of wheat and increase in prices, the experts say. The producers asked the Government to acquire from the producers a volume of 80 thousand tones of wheat against the announced 50 thousand tonnes, for a price of at least MDL 2.8. According to them, this price is relatively equal to that on the world and regional markets and allows cutting the losses of the local producers.